The Nightmare
by Lady Greenbrier
Summary: Rapunzel has a nightmare a week or two after arriving at the castle and becoming princess. Eugene's there to comfort her. *Now a two-shot*
1. Chapter 1

**This probably takes place sometime after Rapunzel first moves in with her parents at the castle. Maybe a week or two? I didn't really specify time when I was writing this, so just let your imagination fill that part in!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I was not given the rights for Tangled over Christmas. I do not own Rapunzel or the amazingly awesome and hot Eugene/Flynn. **

* * *

There was darkness, darkness everywhere, and the only light was far in the distance. Rapunzel could just see Eugene's outline in the small glow, and she followed it as fast as she could, breathing heavily as she ran, trying desperately to catch up to the small beam of light ahead of her. But, as she ran, it moved as well, going farther and farther away and taking Eugene with it.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she sprinted towards him but grew no closer.

"Eugene!" she shouted. "Eugene!" Panic colored her voice. When she could go on no further, she collapsed on the floor in defeat. A voice rang out above her.

"Didn't I tell you so, Rapunzel? It does no good to try to catch up with that thief. You'll never find him." Mother Gothel's voice was high and cold, coming from every direction.

"Mother?" Rapunzel gasped. "Where are you?"

Gothel's voice seemed to come from every direction, each one throwing insults at her.

"Why would he like you? Come on now, really!"

"Look at you! You think he's impressed?"

"Plus, I believe, you're getting kind of chubby."

"Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy!"

"Ditzy and a bit, well, hm, vague!"

"Gullible, naïve, positively grubby!"

Rapunzel looked in every direction, her green eyes wide as she searched for Gothel, wanting to make the insults and harsh words stop, but not knowing where to turn. They all spoke at once, but each word was easily understood to her, imbedding itself in her head and making her wince.

"No! You're not my mother!" Rapunzel screamed. No real mother would be so terrible to her child. "Eugene! Eugene!"

"He's not coming back. I told you so," Gothel's voices were all speaking the same words at once, the multitude of voices echoing across the room. "But, no, Rapunzel knows best! Rapunzel's so mature now, such a clever grown up miss! I told you,_ if he's lying, don't come crying, _but no, did you listen to me? No, you came crawling back to Mother after he left you!"

"No! He didn't leave!" Rapunzel cried out to the darkness.

"Look around you! Do you see your precious little wanted thief here? I warned you!"

"No!" Rapunzel screamed. "It's not true! Eugene! Eugene!"

"Rapunzel!" another voice said, a voice that was strangely familiar. Gothel's arms closed around her and she struggled, screaming.

"No! No! Eugene!"

"Rapunzel, I'm here!"

"Eugene! Eugene!"

"Rapunzel, wake up!" Someone was shaking her, hard, and she finally opened her eyes to see Eugene in front of her, panic clear in his eyes.

"Eugene?" she whispered, unsure if he was a dream or not.

"I'm here," he said seriously. Was it her imagination, or was his voice a little thick, as if he were holding back tears.

Her eyes scanned the room and she recognized it as her room in the castle. Everything flooded back to her and she sighed with relief. Eugene hadn't meant to leave her then, Gothel was dead, Eugene was here and alive and with her. Her magic hair was gone, but as long as she had him, everything was okay.

She threw herself into his arms, sobbing against his shoulder as he held her tightly and stroked her back, his other hand caressing her short brown hair.

"How bad was it this time?" Eugene whispered in her ear.

"Horrible. It gets worse every night," she breathed, hiccupping. She remembered the horrid dream and burst out crying again, burying her face into the crook of Eugene's neck.

"It's okay," he whispered. "Shh, I'm here. I'm never going anywhere. I'll always be here."

"Promise?" she mumbled into his neck.

"I promise. Now it's time for you to go back to sleep."

"I can't," she whispered. "If I do, I'll see Gothel again."

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep." He gently pushed her back so she was lying on the pillows and he leaned up against the headboard, gathering her into his arms and rubbing her back soothingly. He hummed softly, not very talented musically, but his voice helped lure Rapunzel back to sleep.

"Eugene?" she whispered just before her eyes closed.

"Yes, Rapunzel?" he murmured.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Blondie."

She smiled softly at his old nickname for her and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**I was just thinking about this story and thought that maybe it needed a bit more of a resolution to it. So here it is!**

**Oh, by the way, just to make you laugh and/or go "awww!", my five-year-old sister who is learning to read thought that Pascal's name was "Passed-Out." Hmm . . . "Passed-Out the Chameleon." The things kids say . . . . .**

**Disclaimer: Uh-uh. Not mine. :( Though I really wish Eugene was mine. Believe me, you'd know if Eugene was mine!**

* * *

Eugene was worried about Rapunzel. She'd been having nightmares every night for weeks—she had almost never told him what they were about, but, judging from what she screamed in her sleep, they usually involved Gothel.

It was exactly pleasant topic for either one of them, which only made the problem worse because Eugene worried that trying to convince her to talk about her dreams would be less than beneficial, and Rapunzel didn't want to burden Eugene with her nightmares. In her mind, they were horrific enough without having to force them onto someone else!

But, when Eugene finally convinced Rapunzel to tell him one of her dreams, it wasn't like anything he'd expected.

* * *

_"I was back in the tower," she whispered through the darkness to him, finally confiding in him what her horrid nightmare was about. "And Gothel had just . . . stabbed . . . you." Her voice grew more and more choked, and Eugene considered interrupting her, but knew that she had to tell somebody at some point._

_It wasn't good for her to hold it all in. So he just had to try not to break in two from hearing how much pain she'd been in. _

_"But this time . . . she wouldn't let me heal you! I struggled against the chains and screamed and tried to get to you, but she forced me to stay there, watching as you died . . . knowing it was all my fault. _

_"When you were dead she went over and kicked your body, proving that you really were . . . gone. She dragged me over and showed me your face, how limp and pale it was already becoming. She forced me to feel how your skin was already growing cold with death, and taunted me, telling me that it was because of me that you had died. That if I'd listened to her, you would be alive._

_"I knew it was all lies and I tried to scream at her, to tell her that _she_ was the one who had murdered him, but the words wouldn't leave my throat. She dragged me away from your body, ignoring how I screamed and cried and tried to sing so I could heal you, but I hadn't realized that I could still heal you until it was too late. Pascal tried to help me, but she . . . she _squished_ him! She killed the two people that mattered most to me now. Gothel took me away and you and Pascal were dead, gone—all because of me! _

"_There was nothing else for me to _live_ for. The outside world that I'd found so fascinating . . . it held nothing for me without you."_

_Eugene didn't know what to do as he held the sobbing princess in his arms. Knowing one of the nightmares she was forced to see helped him to comfort her, but how was he to keep them away? _

_The sheer helpless he felt frightened him, and he knew he had to find a way to help Rapunzel. He'd _died_ for her! Surely he could find a way to keep away her nightmares . . . couldn't he?_

Eugene wasn't having much luck. No matter what he tried—reading her a story, assuring her that he was alive and that she had saved him and that he'd never leave her again, even trying to play a musical instrument—everything failed. Finally, desperate to help his princess, he just hummed a random tune to her and held her tightly as she went to sleep.

Frightened by the prospect of her nightmares, she tried to stay up, but eventually fell asleep. When Eugene tried to climb out, she clutched him tighter and sighed, a genuine smile on her sleeping face for the first time in ages. Unwilling to leave her to face her nightmares, Eugene simply slept there on top of the covers with Rapunzel huddled beneath the blankets, clutching him like a life preserver.

When the two awoke the next morning—very late morning, actually, because of their lack of sleep—they were surprised to find that they had slept through the night with no interruptions.

Eugene's presence kept the nightmares away.

Naturally, the King and Queen were _not_ particularly pleased with the sleeping arrangement, but they had no choice but to conceded when they saw how it helped their daughter. Their rule, however, was that Rapunzel was under the covers and Eugene was on top. He could use a separate blanket if it was cold, but, under no circumstance, were they both to be under the blankets.

Rapunzel thought the idea was ridiculous, but no one had given her _The Talk_ yet—Gothel had obviously never expected Rapunzel to meet a man, so it wasn't an issue—and so how was she to understand if she didn't even know what they were trying to protect her from?

Eugene wasn't planning on telling her, that was for sure—he was leaving that job to her parents.

But at least the nightmares stopped . . . .


End file.
